IDENTIFYING DATA 2023_24
Subject (*) NARRATIVE IN ENGLISH Code 12274122
Study programme
Bachelor's Degree in English Studies (2009)
 Cycle 1st
Descriptors Credits Type Year Period
6 Compulsory Third 2Q
Language
Anglès
Department English and German Studies
Coordinator
TRIGONI , EFTHALIA
 E-mail thalia.trigoni@urv.cat
Lecturers
TRIGONI , EFTHALIA
Web
General description and relevant information <div>In our course you will analyse major narrative features and techniques and you will become familiar with some of the key theoretical approaches to narrative study. We will examine the building blocks of narrative, including aspects of narration, characterization and plot, focusing on different narrative platforms, such as, the short story, the novel and essays. But for the most part, we will be addressing the formal, stylistic and thematic evolution of the novel from the nineteenth century to the present, focusing on innovations in the novel’s form and fiction’s engagement with history.</div>

Competences
Type A Code Competences Specific
 A5 Dominar la llengua anglesa des d’un punt de vista teòric i pràctic i expressar-s’hi oralment i per escrit de manera fluida i precisa.
 A6 Analitzar les obres més rellevants de la literatura en llengua anglesa en els seus diversos entorns culturals.
Type B Code Competences Transversal
 CT3 Solve problems critically, creatively and innovatively in their field.
 CT4 Work autonomously and as part of a team with responsibility and initiative.
Type C Code Competences Nuclear

Learning outcomes
Type A Code Learning outcomes
 A5 Desenvolupa la capacitat d’expressió oral i/o escrita per a satisfer les necessitats que vagin més enllà de l’ús purament instrumental de la llengua anglesa a un nivell avançat.
 A6 Coneix els aspectes principals de la narrativa en llengua anglesa.
Analitza i comenta textos literaris de forma oral i/o escrita.
Type B Code Learning outcomes
 CT3 Identify the situation as a problem in the field and be sufficiently motivated to face up to it.
Follow a systematic method to divide a problem into parts, identify the causes and apply the knowledge specific to the discipline.
Design a new solution by using all the resources necessary to cope with the problem.
Include the details of the proposed solution in a realistic model.
Reflect on the model proposed, find shortcomings and suggest improvements.
 CT4 Identify the role they play in the group and understand the group’s objectives and tasks.
Communicate and act within the group in such a way that they facilitate cohesion and performance.
Commit to the group’s tasks and agenda.
Participate in the group in a good working environment and help to solve problems.
Type C Code Learning outcomes

Contents
Topic Sub-topic
1. Introduction to Fiction

2. Realism
The Nineteenth-century American short story

3. Modernism
The Twentieth-Century English novel

4. Postmodernism
Contemporary American Fiction 		The narrator, Voice, Focalisation, Point of view, Time

Reflection of reality, omniscient narrator vs. point-of-view narration, criticism of social mores

Novelistic experimentation, subjectivity, representation of time, stream of consciousness

The formal stylistic repertoire such as self-reflexivity, new-ness, the metafictional impulse and being consciously experimental.

Planning
Methodologies  ::  Tests
  Competences (*) Class hours
 Hours outside the classroom
 (**) Total hours
Introductory activities
2 0 2
Presentations / oral communications
A5
A6
CT3
CT4
 4 12 16
Lecture
A5
A6
 18 18 36
Seminars
A5
A6
CT3
 30 45 75
Personal attention
2 3 5
 
Extended-answer tests
A5
A6
 4 12 16
 
(*) On e-learning, hours of virtual attendance of the teacher.
(**) The information in the planning table is for guidance only and does not take into account the heterogeneity of the students.

Methodologies
Methodologies
  Description
Introductory activities Introduction to narrative theory. Explanation of the course syllabus and students’ assessment.
Presentations / oral communications Oral presentations will be conducted in groups and they must be approximately 10-15 minutes long. For the purposes of the presentation, you should conduct extensive library and internet research. A handout including important quotations, topics covered, and works consulted must be prepared and provided to each class member. You should also be prepared to answer questions at the end of your presentation.
Lecture The lectures aim to provide you with the tools to evaluate narratives by describing their technical achievements. We will define major narrative features and elements of narrative theory, and identify and analyze examples of these features in narrative texts. We will also compare how different narrative platforms use point of view, duration and pace, characterization, and other narrative elements.
Seminars Discussions of set texts or parts of them. Students will be asked to prepare material in advance of each weekly seminar.
Personal attention Students may consult the teacher in person on through an online connection about any aspect of the course, at a time agreed by email or in person.

Personalized attention
Description

Students will be provided with individual and/or group tutorials in order to resolve possible doubts, queries and other issues related to the subject. Tutorials can be face-to-face and/or virtual. Students are encouraged to visit their Lecturer whenever they have any queries concerning the course.

Assessment
Methodologies Competences Description Weight        
Presentations / oral communications
A5
A6
CT3
CT4
 Oral presentations will be conducted in small groups. They must be approximately 10-15 minutes long. For the purposes of the presentation, you should conduct extensive library and internet research. A handout including important quotations, topics covered, and works consulted must be prepared and provided to each class member. You should also be prepared to answer questions at the end of your presentation. All your sources will have to be acknowledged orally and in the handout. 20%
Extended-answer tests
A5
A6
 The Mid-term exam will take place around the seventh week of the course and the final exam on our final class.
Each exam will have a 35% weighting and will last approximately two hours.
The Exam(s) will consist of two sections and each will include two questions of which students will need to choose and answer one in an essay form of at least 400 words. The first section will include thematic questions and the second part will include an extract from the primary texts which students will need to analyse in relation to one or two primary works. Students will not be allowed to write about the same text more than once. 		70%
Others   Participation (10%). You should come to class prepared to address the day's material. This means completing all the primary reading before class, bringing the reading to class, and being prepared to discuss the reading thoughtfully. During class discussion, I expect you to be attentive to what your classmates have to say and respectful of their ideas and opinions.
 
Other comments and second exam session

Students who do not attend classes regularly and consequently do not fulfil the requirements of the Continuous Assessment programme will have to take the final exam.

The Final Exam will consist of two sections and each will include two questions of which students will need to choose and answer one in an essay form of at least 400 words. The first section will include thematic questions and the second part will include an extract from the primary texts which students will need to analyse in relation to one or two primary works. Students will not be allowed to write about the same text more than once.

The mark achieved by the student in this final exam will amount to 100% of their overall course mark.

Plagiarism: Any piece of work which contains an insert of a sentence or more from another person's work, or a piece of published work, that is not duly recognized by appropriate bibliographic referencing as coming from another source other than the student, will be considered to have plagiarized. The work in which this offence is committed will be evaluated with a '0'. A repetition of this offence will mean automatic failure of the Continuous Assessment, no matter what the student's score is in the Continuous Assessment at that moment. They will have to present themselves in the Final Exam.

Sources of information

Basic

All the primary texts will be available on Moodle. However, the students are expected to buy their own copies of the following books: 

(You are strongly advised to buy the specified edition)

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: James Joyce. Penguin (1996)

Mrs. Dalloway: Virginia Woolf. Oxford University Press (2009)

Women in Love: D.H. Lawrence. Penguin (2000) 

Falling Man. Don DeLillo. Picador (2007)

A list of secondary readings will be included in the course Syllabus.

The following are good introductory resources on the subject of narrative and narrative theory. They are available in the library for consultation:

Atkins, G., Walsh, C., Watkins, S. (eds) (1995) Studying Literature. A Practical Introduction, Hemel Hempsted: Harvester Wheatsheaf

Eagleton, T. Literary Theory. An Introduction. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996 82"19".09Eag

Selden, Raman. Practising theory and reading literature : an introduction, New York [etc.]: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1989. N1-7-15
Complementary

Recommendations


 
Other comments
Regular attendance in class is strongly recommended. Familiarity with and understanding of the content of the lectures and how it applies to the texts studied will be tested in all the formative assessments.
(*)The teaching guide is the document in which the URV publishes the information about all its courses. It is a public document and cannot be modified. Only in exceptional cases can it be revised by the competent agent or duly revised so that it is in line with current legislation.